Strata Tower

Strata Tower was built on the former council-owned site of ‘Castle House’, a mixed-use building leased to Southbank University with active frontages including a chinese restaurant, an acquatics store, an italian pizzeria (Castello’s) and a Snooker Hall (which later became a Latin American bar/restaurant). Castle House was built in the sixties at the same time as the neighbouring 25-storey Draper House.

The council sold Castle House in January 2005 to a shell company based in the Isle of Man for £8m. The shell company happened to be registered at the same address as the shell company that was first registered by Oakmayne properties, which was later associated with the controversial Delancey DV4 real estate fund, which is also developing the Tribeca Square, the E&C shopping centre and which had links with the original developers of Eileen House. The freehold of the Strata Tower has since changed hands and is currently owned by the Aviva real estate investment fund.

The Strata Tower is 148-metres (486 ft) tall, it has 43-storeys comprising 408 flats and was designed by Architects BFLS (formerly Hamiltons).

The Strata was built with the help of shared-ownership Grant Funding from the GLA (25% of the flats are shared ownership). The developer argued (with the help of a viability assessment) that the scheme could not afford to provide the requisite 35% minimum affordable housing or any social rented housing, despite policy requiring that the 35% is split equally between intermediate and social rented. Instead the developer made a £1.3m payment in-lieu of the shortfall and any social rented provision.

Wind Turbines

Despite providing zero social housing, Southwark granted planning permission on the grounds that its wind turbines would “create a dramatic and highly recognisable building form that achieves one of the council’s plan objectives, which is to create landmark buildings as signifiers of the Elephant & Castle on the London skyline.” The planning officer’s report goes on to explain that “The turbines are of course not merely decorative but have a function which is directly related to the Elephant’s status as an Energy Action Area”(para. 45):

However, the GLA wrote to Southwark Council shortly after the application had been submitted, expressing concerns about the wind turbines’ noise and vibration impacts on upper level appartments. It ordered Southwark to ensure that appropriate conditions were imposed on the planning application.

Contribution to the public realm?

The GLA also expressed concerns about the design of the building and its failure to respond appropriately to its context, particularly at ground floor level.

The council ultimately granted permission without any design modifications and failed to impose effective conditions on the wind turbines. The severe noise experienced by residents on the upper floors from the vibration impacts of the turbines after they moved in, resulted in the turbines being permanently de-actived.

As part of its s106 contributions designed to contribute to the public realm around the building, Strata agreed to install £100,000 worth of public art around the base of the building. The developers came under criticism when it emerged that this had paid for just four prints displayed on windows at the base of the tower.

Revolving doors

Shun thy neighbours

The building behind that Strata turns its back on is the Castle Day Centre, which used to be a mental health day centre until it was demolished to make way for construction of the new Crossway church. The new church is being built at the Council’s expense (not Lend Lease’s), to replace the church’s current premises on the footprint of the Heygate estate.

Carbuncle cup

In August 2010, Strata Tower was awarded the Carbuncle Cup a yearly award recognising “the ugliest building in the United Kingdom”.

In April 2012, the Strata appeared in a list of the world’s 21 ugliest buildings in the Daily Telegraph.

Affordable retail

Paragraph 93 of the officer’s report for the planning consent said that there would be a subsidised affordable retail unit on the ground floor of the development, set aside for the relocation of shopping centre traders displaced by its redevelopment. The Section 106 agreement between the Council and the developer reinforces this condition agreed by the planning committee:

The affordable retail unit was eventually provided - albeit according to the very minimum requirements: 19 square metres was provided to Inura, a money transfer agent from the shopping centre now occupying what is nothing more than a kiosk.